TuSimple expands fleet of autonomous trucks

09-01-2019

By Tim de Jong

The Chinese-American start-up TuSimple is executing practice tests with eleven autonomous trucks. They are tested in the US in Arizona and in the Chinese region east of Beijing. During this year TuSimple seeks to expand the testfleet to 40 trucks.

This is a remarkable development as TuSimple only tests with Level 4 technology, which means that trucks are driving entirely by themselves. At present, there is still a driver om board. Earlier this week, German truck manufacturer Daimler unveiled a Cascadia model for the US using Level 2 autonomous technology. Daimler estimates that Level 4 autonomous trucks are still ten years away.

TuSimple expects driverless technology to be ready somewhere next year. TuSimple also seeks to start testing their technology on a longer route. Later this year, the start-up company hopes to use a route between Arizona and Texas. The main reason for expanding the number of testtrucks is that more possible customers show up and look to use the autonomous technology in the future.